One of the quirks of having a relatively young nation studded with relatively young public institutions amidst a relatively young culture is that we're at times a little light on when it comes to entertainingly wacky traditions. But furnished with strange mixtures of religiosity, superstition, drug use, alcohol consumption, nudity and just outright malice, universities the world over have evolved strange sets of codes, most of which would seem reasonably out of place and/or illegal in the real world. Prompted by
the axing of the one word entrance exam to Oxford's All Soul's College [more below], I thought I'd go on a brief tour of some of the more curious traditions doing the rounds of the international university system.
All Soul's College - The Word
So, here we have a college founded in 1438, with only 76 students at one of the most prestigious universities on Earth. Of course they had to come up with something good to weed out the chaff. So, in 1932 they added - to an already grueling, multi-day exam process - a three hour essay where the question was just a single word. Such as "innocence", or "error", or "tromboner". Well, perhaps not the last one. However, the college has recently announced that it will be ceasing the one word essay, as it was really only showing off people's abilities to spin fantastic amounts of vapid bullshit from the flimsiest of premises. Which I thought, in the age of the internet, was probably more important than ever...
All Soul's College - The Mallard Hunt
Because who wouldn't want a chance to hunt a 600 year old mythical duck at the beginning of each century or, even more prestigiously, to be crowned Lord Mallard and get to wield a duck on a stick? Yeah, bet you all want to do your one word essays now. Next opportunity occurs in 89 years.
UWA - R U Barking
As in "mad". This was an event where teams of 4-8 law students would compete on a timed four kilometre pub crawl around the inner city, with each participant having to down ten half-pints in ten separate venues and carrying a plastic bag in which they had to catch any vomit that might emerge. While a robust tradition for many years, I'm not really sure if this is one that could be described as being fully drenched in history. More just drenched in alcohol and vomit really. And
the occasional legal problem.
Reed College - The Seventh Annual Nitrogen Day
Does what it says on the box. Celebrates nitrogen. Delicious, plentiful nitrogen. What fun. The Seventh Annual every year because nitrogen is the seventh element on the periodic table. Party college.
Cornell University - Dragon Day
Wherein everybody gathers around and burns the crap out of a barn-sized effigy of a dragon. It's been going for over a hundred years, so perhaps started back in the day when dragon attack was still a legitimate concern.
Brandeis University - Liquid Latex
Somehow students at Brandeis University managed to convince authorities that a giant body painting extravaganza/contemporary dance free-for-all was a suitable centrepiece for the university's cultural calendar.
University of California at San Diego - The Pumpkin Drop
They celebrate Halloween by dropping a 300kg pumpkin - because apparently they get that big - off the top of an eleven story dorm building. And then the onlookers get showered in candy. And pumpkin bits.
Delta State University - The Fighting Okra
I mean, it's hard to know if mascots count as traditions, but, well, this is a fighting okra. Seriously, look at him. Dude would fuck you up.
Rutgers/Princeton - The Cannon War
Princeton possessed a cannon used - allegedly - by Rutgers during the American Revolution. Rutgers stole it back in 1875. Princeton retaliated by stealing some muskets from Rutgers. In order to bring peace, the two were ordered to return the weapons to the other side. Princeton promptly buried the cannon in cement so that only the very tip of it is showing. There was one more failed attempt at stealing the cannon in 1946 which led to a car being torn in half, but these days Rutgers just picks one day a year and tries to paint the cannon bright red without Princeton realizing. Japes.
University of Michigan - Hash Bash
I cannot imagine how excited University of Michigan administrators are that their primary point of renown is a day dedicated to smoking heroic amounts of pot in a public place. There's costumes and bands and thousands of students and everything.
So, anything of note at your place of education?